A man was detained for removing nuts and bolts from the railing of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge yesterday.

The Bridges Division last evening banned motorcycles on the Padma Bridge from 6:00am today as thousands of bikers queuing up to cross the bridge overwhelmed the toll plaza employees and two bikers died in a crash on the bridge.

Train communication between Dhaka, Chattogram, and Dhaka, Sylhet resumed this evening one and a half hours after an oil tanker derailed in Brahmanbaria.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paying toll at the Padma Bridge yesterday. The grand opening of the country’s largest bridge featured a dazzling display of colourful fireworks.

Thousands of people began gathering at Kathalbari Ghat on the Padma in Shibchar early yesterday to attend an Awami League rally marking the inauguration of the Padma Bridge.

The Padma Bridge is not just a concrete structure, it also symbolises the nation’s pride, honour and ability, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday.

“We will not bow to anybody.”

The long-awaited inauguration of the Padma bridge yesterday was cheered at home and abroad, in a rare unifying moment for the country.

The Padma Bridge will boost inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty in Bangladesh, Mercy Tembon, World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today initiated the process of paying toll to cross the much-awaited Padma Multipurpose Bridge, soon after opening the bridge.

One afternoon in October 2011, Md Shafiqul Islam, then an additional chief engineer at the Roads and Highways Department, was tensely pacing the corridors of the erstwhile communications ministry, contemplating joining the Padma bridge project.

There are some epic moments that make a nation proud.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) has closed the ferry crossing on the Shimulia waterway in Munshiganj and Majhikandi in Shariatpur on the occasion of the Padma Bridge inauguration.

Borrowing from the title of the second volume of Winston Churchill’s six-part history of the Second World War, I would like to term the completion of the Padma Bridge as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s “finest hour”.

The people of the country’s southern districts are elated over the inauguration of the Padma Bridge today.

This is a dream bridge which will not only establish the long-awaited direct road and rail communications between the capital and south-western parts of Bangladesh but also contribute to greater connectivity and trade among Asian countries.

The long-cherished Padma Bridge is now ready to be inaugurated as the contractor formally handed over the bridge to the project authorities.  

Although the demand for railway tickets on the Dhaka-Chattogram route has been increasing every year, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities could not add a single passenger train to the country’s most important route in the last seven years.

A 3-kilometre-long tailback was created on Dhaka-Aricha highway, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on the road.

No toll will be collected from major bridges in the country’s southwestern region on June 25, to facilitate Padma Bridge opening, authorities announced today.